Donnie Darko: Timeline & Ending Explained
The cult hit Donnie Darko is an infamously difficult film to follow, but its confusing ending can be explained by unknotting the movie’s complex timeline. Released in 2001, Donnie Darko was a lot of different things to different viewers. The film is simultaneously an early vehicle for future superstar Jake Gyllenhaal, the directorial debut of mercurial genius Richard Kelly, and a hybrid of teen drama, science fiction, small-town mystery and fantasy.
Kelly’s critically maligned 2006 follow-up Southland Tales needed an entire companion graphic novel to make sense, so it's obvious that he isn’t afraid of a complicated ending. The lack of a tie-in explainer doesn’t mean Donnie Darko is easy to decipher, though. The movie’s ending combines difficult to explain alternate universes with time travel and some truly surreal symbolism. But whether it’s the complicated tangent universe, the creepy six-foot-tall rabbit Frank, or how exactly Donnie wins out in the end, everything in the film’s ending can be explained.
Related: The Umbrella Academy: Time Travel Rules Explained
Donnie Darko is also a very surreal and strange movie, and this is epitomized by its ending. The film uses a lot of eighties pop culture detritus, such as soundtrack music and TV references, to evoke the cultural moment of Kelly’s own youth. This creates a foggy, nostalgic atmosphere which makes the trippy ending all the more confusing for first-time viewers. Here we'll break down exactly what happens — from the rogue plane engine to the guy in the bunny mask.
First and foremost, let’s get the events of Donnie Darko’s enigmatic ending in order. Chronologically, and stated as simply as possible: Donnie burns down hypocritical motivational speaker Jim Cunningham’s
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